"We denounce President
Trump’s recent Executive Order, which fails to provide a solution to the family
separation crisis, and instead mandates that migrant families be held in
detention. And we decry the failure of
the U.S. Government to comply with international and U.S. law in processing and
referring fear-based asylum claims at U.S. Ports of Entry in a timely manner.
These policies and practices are morally repugnant, violate the rights of
asylum seekers as well as children and families, and create permanent harm
to the spirit, health and well-being of vulnerable individuals and families."

In
addition to the Jesuit’s Office of Justice and Ecology, the statement came from Loyola University Chicago’s Center for the Human Rights of Children, the Kino
Border Initiative, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and 11 Jesuit law schools.

Jesuit organizations along the U.S.-Mexico border, such as
the Kino Border Initiative, have been accompanying individuals and families who
want to access their right to international protection. However, the
organizations have witnessed long delays by Customs and Border Protection in
the processing and referral of these lawful claims at U.S. Ports of Entry, leaving
vulnerable migrants in precarious situations for up to 14 days.

“Rather
than accessing their rights, migrants are suffering hunger and thirst, threats
and other forms of violence,” the statement said. “In desperation, some choose
to cross the border at unofficial points of entry because they have been denied
their right to access safety or because they were never aware of the asylum
process in the first place, but only knew that they needed to bring their
children to safety.”

While
the criminalization of border crossing is not new, Attorney General Jeff
Sessions’ recent announcement that every migrant crossing without inspection
will be prosecuted without regard for family unity or fear of return to their
country of origin has meant that asylum seekers are criminally sentenced for
seeking safety and parents are forcibly separated from their children.

"Detaining children and separating themfrom their families causes
permanent harm to the spirit, health and well-being of these vulnerable
children and their families," the statement said.

To
date, there are thousands of cases of parents being arrested and detained when
arriving at the border, while their children are forcibly removed from them and
detained in a separate facility run by the Department of Health and Human
Services. These include infants,
toddlers and disabled children who have never been apart from their parents.

The statment said that President Trump’s recent
Executive Order, which mandates the detention of families to keep children with
their parents, "falls far short of our calls to uphold the dignity of children
and families. We reject this policy
because we have seen that detention is detrimental to the physical, spiritual
and mental well-being of the individual, especially of children."

"As organizations
that seek to promote the rights of children and families and protect the rule
of law, we reject these policies as contrary to our Jesuit values, human rights
and children’s rights principles, and refugee law – all of which protect the rights of safe
migration and family unity. These policies violate the best interest of the
child, one of the most universally understood principles of child welfare, and
a standard we apply to our own children in domestic child welfare proceedings."

The Jesuit orgainzations called on Congressional leaders to work together to ensure that the rights of the most
vulnerable among us are protected. "Founded on the core Jesuit values of welcome
and accompaniment, we will continue to stand up for the dignity and inherent
rights of any displaced person.” To read the full statement, click here.

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